Bag closure



BAG CLOSURE Filed March 10, 1965 INVENTOR: RICARDO HU RTADO SOTO ATT'YS United States Patent 3,268,151 BAG CLUSURE Ricardo Hurtado Soto, 9263 Aptdo. Aereo, Bogota, flolomnia Filed Mar. 10, 1965, Ser. No. 438,600 4 Claims. (Cl. 229-62) This invention relates to a bag closure and method and, more particularly, to a construction wherein an openmouth bag is securely closed in a unique fashion. Such bags may be advantageously used for packaging shirts and the like although the invention will be seen to have various applications by those skilled in the art.

It is therefore a general object of this invention to provide a novel bag closure and method of achieving the same; more particularly, a closure embodying a doubletubular element wherein portions of the bag adjacent the mouth are folded and positioned within the double-tubula-r portion. Advantageous results flow from such a closure in that the bag thereafter may be manipulated with facility without disturbing the closure. In addition to providing a convenient handle, the closure provides an advantageous support surface for hanging or otherwise supporting the filled bag.

Other objects and advantages of the invention may be seen in the details of construction and operation set down in the following specification.

The invention is described in conjunction with an illustrative embodiment in the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective elevational view of a tubular construction from which the inventive tubular closure is developed;

FIG. 2 is a perspective elevational view of a tubular closure developed by severing the article shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view such as would be seen along the sight line 33 applied to FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of the upper portion of a bag equipped with the inventive closure;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a bag equipped with the inventive closure and further equipped with a tab bearing identifying indicia; and

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of a plurality of bags seen supported on a spike or other hanger, made possible by the inventive construction and method.

In the illustration given and with particular reference to FIG. 4, the numeral 10 designates generally a bag such as that also designated by the numeral 10 in FIG. 5. The upper portion of the bag 10 is seen to terminate in the usual open mouth 11 and, further, the bag 10 is seen to be folded on itself along a fold line as at 12 to define a first fold portion at 13 and a second fold portion as at 14. The first fold portion 13 is seen to be generally aligned with the remainder of the bag 10the remainder of the bag being designated 15 in FIG. 5.

Completing the closure is the tubular element previously referred to in connection with FIG. 2 and which is generally designated by the numeral 16. Advantageous ly, the closure 16 may be developed by transversely severing along lines as at 16 prime a composite double-collar tube generally designated 16 double prime so as to provide the closure 16 seen in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, it will be seen that the closure 16 provides a first passage 17 and a second passage 18 for the receipt respectively of the first fold portion 13 and the second fold portion 14. Also, the closure 16 is equipped with a plurality of aligned openings as at 19 for the receipt of a fastening means such as the split rivet 20 seen in FIG. 4.

The passages 18 and 17 are seen to be arranged in sideby-side relation, and, in the practice of the invention,

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the upper portion of the bag which may be advanta geously gusseted as at 21 is first inserted through the first passage 17 to provide the first fold portion 13. Thereafter, the portion of the bag lying at upper end of the closure 16 (see FIG. 4) is folded on itself along the line 12 and inserted into the second passage 14. If desired, the fastening means 20 may additionally secure a tab 22 to the closure 16 which tab may advantageously carry identifying indicia. The gussets 21 narrow the upper portion of the bag so that as can be seen from the drawing, particularly FIG. 5, the second fold portion 14 is substantially narrower than the remaining portion 15 of the bag 10. This results in providing a closure 16 wherein the second passage 18 has a smaller cross-sectional area (when undistorted) than the first passage 17.

In use, the identifying tab 22 may be removed as also the fastening means 20 and a plurality of bags 10 may be suspended on a hanger or spike 23 as indicated in FIG. 6. Alternatively, a string may be passed through the aligned openings 19 whereby the closure 16 provides substantially high resistance to tearing or rupture when the filled bag 10 is supported as by hanging.

Also advantageously, each bag 10 may contain a plurality of units, i.e., shirts, etc., in which case the closure is reutilized by rescaling after a given unit is removed.

While in the foregoing specification, a detailed description of the embodiment of the invention has been set down for the purpose of illustration, many variations of the details herein given may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A closed flexible container comprising a flexible bag having an open end defining a mouth, said bag being folded on itself along the lines spaced from and generally parallel to said mouth to define a first fold portion generally aligned with the remainder of said bag and a second fold portion overlying said first fold portion, a flexible tubular closure having first and second passages arranged in side-by-side relation, said first fold portion be ing positioned in said first passage and said second fold portion being positioned in said second passage, and fastening means extending through said tubular closure and folded portions to immobilize said bag remainder at one end of said closure and the bag portion immediately adjacent to said fold line at the other end of said closure.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which a tab equipped with identifying indicia is additionally secured to said clo sure by said fastening means,

3. The structure of claim 1 in which said bag is generally rectangular and outlined with gussets being provided adjacent to said mouth to provide a second fold portion narrower than said bag remainder, said second pas sage being a smaller cross-sectional area than said first passage.

4. The structure of claim 1 in which said fastening means includes a split rivet.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 945,705 1/1910 Crosgrove -3 X 1,079,527 11/1913 Wallace 229-62 X 1,317,687 10/1919 Cooper 22965 1,855,473 4/1932 Cerf.

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

D. M. BOCKENEK, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A CLOSED FLEXIBLE CONTAINER COMPRISING A FLEXIBLE BAG HAVING AN OPEN END DEFINING A MOUTH, SAID BAG BEING FOLDED ON ITSELF ALONG THE LINES SPACED FROM AND GENERALLY PARALLEL TO SAID MOUTH TO DEFINE A FIRST FOLD PORTION GENERALLY ALIGNED WITH THE REMAINDER OF SAID BAG AND A SECOND FOLD PORTION OVERLYING SAID FIRST FOLD PORTION, A FLEXIBLE TUBULAR CLOSURE HAVING FIRST AND SECOND PASSAGES ARRANGED IN SIDE-BY-SIDE RELATION, SAID FIRST FOLD PORTION BEING POSITIONED IN SAID FIRST PASSAGE AND SAID SECOND FOLD 